I agree totally but not on your point regardless old white men . Rarely do I see them anymore , I believe they are retired by now . …. But for sure , the industry is brutal. And way too unstable to even think about getting a mortgage for a home .
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It’s a valid rant. Upper management is so freaked out that someone will notice their incompetence (or so full of vanity they literally cannot see it) that they surround themselves with yes men. Any dissent puts that person on the next layoff list. It won’t stop until the entire top line is wiped out and replaced with those with some humility, those who can listen to constructive criticism and realize they don’t know everything. Good luck. The loudest, most aggressive voices are the only ones that get ahead anymore.
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well said ShoeLady ! that is the reality .
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Hey Twirlgirl. I’ve made a relatively successful pivot to teaching fashion design in a high school setting. There are oportunities out there to make use of those years of experience that do have some value. I’m not getting rich soing it, but it’s steady work, and you do get to have an impact on kids’ lives. Some ongoing certification training is involved, as my goal was never to be a teacher. I found out a year ago that a merchant that I used to work with made the same pivot.
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Love hearing this!!!
Maxie, to your point of knowing the “tricks of the trade”, if schools are not teaching them and companies are not hiring enough pattern makers for younger pattern makers to learn from the more experienced, how do you think that this can be solved? I agree that it’s an issue, but also an issue of the newer pattern makers not knowing what they don’t know. Interested to hear your suggestions!
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Good question ! How about hiring a Head- patternmaker, or promoting the best PM that’s part of the existing team to be one ? But that position barely exists anymore while it was the norm a couple of decades ago . I noticed that most bosses have no clue what this role would entail , to be blunt. It’s someone that checks production patterns before cutting and sewing and shows the pattern maker how to fix potential mistakes. The responsibility is on the Head patternmaker to run the patternroom and reduce wasting time and money, and mentoring younger patternmakers. I see a job opportunity like that coming up once every 10 years . Back when I felt ready to have a role like this, a lot of companies started doing more and more TD overseas. Closing sample and pattern-rooms all together. I switched over to Technical Design myself . I did have one patternmaker job a few years ago and took on one sample maker who went to evening classes to learn pattermaking . Unfortunately he only cared about the bigger paycheck instead of learning anything from me . Big attitude too . I actually left the company after less than 2 years . Also seen very seasoned patternmakers who can’t pass on much knowledge or skill , they just don’t have it . It’s really amazing how far yes -sayers and butt-kissers can go and last in the industry.
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Compared to 10 years ago, we list so many fewer pattern making positions.
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That’s because so much design development (patterns, samples, fitting) has gone to vendors in other countries. The large corporations and venture capital licensing organizations don’t have patternmakers or design rooms making garments in the US because the labor is less expensive in most other countries or can be folded into the production costs. But unless you have stellar communication with your vendor partners who are doing the hands-on work or own your own factory, you will have many iterations and several fit cycles. And thhe product may still not fit very well. There are a lot of uncomfortable armholes and pant rises out in the market right now…but as it has been pointed out, there are a lot of younger tech designers who don’t know what they don’t know.
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Yes , and most tech-designers do not have a pattern-making background , but rather a design background. I am not wrong in saying that the “market” in TD is full of designers who could not make it in design.
I agree- and while they may know how they think it should look, they don’t know enough about technical fit, patterns, grading and sewing construction to communicate good instructions to the vendor. This is why so many companies have to separate the design & aesthetics skills from the technical & production skills. Weirdly, though, it is easier for skills-challenged designer to get a TD job than it is for a a patternmaker who has good experience in fitting, patterns, construction, and grading to get that same position. Go figure.
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